What Lies in Crimson Shadows
by Silver Wolves Bane
Summary: When an army lost to the winds of time rises again, who will be there to hold back the seemingly invincible warriors? will they be friends or foes? or maybe the will of one boy will stop what the armies of the elemental countries can not...M for gore
1. Prolog: The Sleeping Beast

Kk so this is my fist fic and im hoping that every thing is done right but if not give me a review and tell me what I did wrong. This is a naruto fic and will be about naruto and will have no yoai parings.

Disclaimer: I own nothing nada…well I do own this fic and the ocs but other than that I own nothing.

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A figure, clothed in a red flowing cape, stood over looking a heavily forested area. The man wore heavy armor under the cape, as was fit for a man of his position being the leader of a great army. This, however, was one of the more difficult times of his position making him wish that he could hand over his job to his eldest son, but that was not an option for the moment. He sighed 'Times are once again changing…'. He shook that thought away; it was not time for such frivolous thinking.

Right now he had to deal with the changing times. Peace was coming over the land and while that was fine and dandy for civilians his army would be restless. With no war meant no one to hire them and with no one to hire them it meant no money, leaving his men to starve. So now he had to come to one of the more difficult decisions of his life.

Turning his back on the trees he looked over his army standing in fine formation with their generals standing at attention in front of the men they commanded. Making his decision quickly he nodded and gave the signal to his generals. They, in turn, turned to their men giving out silent commands to the captains and sergeants. His men did a full 180 before moving threw the gates behind them, carved into the walls of the mountain.

The warrior king turned back to take in his last sights of the sun, and the feeling of the wind on his face. All too soon he followed his men threw the gates into the huge cavern built mid-way up the mountain that they were on. He stopped and turned around watching the gates close and feeling the rushing winds as the gates closed making his cloak flutter behind him. Finally the gates slowly came to a close and he started his journey threw the ranks of his men.

Coming to the thrown in the back of the giant room, he walked past his bowing generals and took his rightful place on the thrown. Resting his helmed head on his gauntleted fist he lazily gave a hand gesture signaling his eldest son, his highest-ranking general, to start to hand seals. The technique that his son was trying to do was quite difficult to say the least, being a time related jutsu, and his son was already sweating trying to keep a constant chakra level and moving into his hundred and fiftieth seal.

As his son finished the last seal he could only feel pride that his son was able to do such a complex jutsu. His son stepped back and retook his place with the other generals waiting for the jutsu to take effect. As the lights dimmed and time slowed for the army its warlord had one last thought as the world faded into darkness. 'war shall rise again and we shall be there when it is, but until that time we shall wait and rest until the time we are needed once again…'

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So this is the prolog. If you like it I will continue they way I'm going or I can change it. Vote on who you want the warrior king to be cuz ive got two options.

1: warrior king is Naruto

2: warrior king is oc

ether way im fine but please give me some answers soon.

Flames are accepted, but shall be struck down by the power of the my greatness if they are any thing other than helping me and just telling me my stuff is crap. For all who are about to press the review button, yes I know it is crap but I don't need you to tell me. Anyways ttyl. Ja ne SWB


	2. Chap 1: Underneath the Underneath

Yay Chapter 1 is up and ready to be read. I'm still going to keep you in the dark until the votes come in for whom the WK (warrior king) and the time line. I'm trying to make this as hard to guess as possible and maybe mix in a couple different shows/mangas in as well like inuyasha, FMA (really far in the future of the story) bleach (an ether or for this with FMA cuz I really like both, same time as FMA) or something else I need ideas so… review!!! And tell me your dreams of the magical future.

Disclaimer: I own nothing I know nothing and I really don't want to see nothing unless the only thing to see is gai sensei and rock lee during their hug fest… **shudder**

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We come to the great city of Konoha, a place of peace and prosperity for all who resided in its walls. It is a unique place unlike many of the cities that surround it in the land of fire country. The reason for this can be explained in a few simple words: it is a ninja village. Now many may wonder what a ninja village may be and the answer would be very long-winded and complex, but for now you shall be saved the pain and mental stress that the explanation will cause you.

The simple answer is that it is a village with loyal warriors that fight in its name for money and a place to call home. Now most ninja villages run and prosper off of the income that their ninja provide, but like said before Konoha is a unique village. The facts are that Konoha could run without its ninja, but they are kept for a few reasons that shall be explained to you.

One Konoha is in one of the best trading areas in almost all the elemental countries making it a prime target for other ninja villages. The second would be because the village is so large and not nearly as hidden as it should be. This means that it is easy to find and if the village was attacked by…ooooh lets say a band of missing-nin or just plain bandits who would protect the villagers? True Konoha does have regular police, but even they cannot be everywhere and have little to no ninja skills making it hard to mobilize a group on the far sides of the village.

Now you may be wondering why you have just read three paragraphs of almost pointless word. The reason is to explain why the village is now repairing itself. The attack itself was not so long ago and the village was making fine progress of being back to its full glory, however it seemed luck was not on their side. A large earthquake had struck and while most of the village was still intact the earthquake had collapsed a little over half the safe houses that kept the civilians safe while the ninjas fought off enemies.

That is where we start our story deep in the bowels of the Hokage Monument where the safe houses are. Apparently some of the upper safe houses could be saved, but it was minimal to say the least and there were still safe houses that could be expanded or new ones were to be made. This is where our temporary main character come to play, lets see their work now.

It was RW (random worker) A and his companions, RW B&C, to expand safe house 14d. Right now we'll just call them bob, Joe and ummm Fred. Bob was and actual architect and was the leader of the group, him being used to dealing with workers, but right now bob felt like taking his pickaxe and killing Fred. Now why, you may ask, would Bob want to kill Fred? Well that could be answered like this. Fred was a whiney ass. Whether it was his pick being too heavy to he had a job to do, not that Bob thought that he really had a job, all the hell Fred did was sit there and complain while him and Joe did all the work.

Bob glanced over at Joe who was right now working on the other side of the of the room. Their eyes met and they came to a conclusion, if Fred didn't shut up soon they would kill soon and call it an accident, this is a perfect example of the teamwork that Konoha showed so much love for. Fred, however, had seen the look and decide to cut his looses and actually do some actual work.

Bring up his pick he brought it down on the wall of stone, the pick easily going threw the stone. It was on his 17th and a half strike that he hit something that stopped the pick dead in its tracks. Now Fred was not a small man having worked on the farm most of his life he was quite strong, not as strong as a ninja but strong all the same. He struck the same spot several times, but still came to the same conclusion as the first. Moving to the side he started to work around the hard stone, but when he reached the same depth as before the same thing happened again. Now he was really started to get annoyed, not that he was going to vocalize it though not with the look he saw Bob gave Joe.

Moving down the wall he came to the same result as his first two holes, 'Great' he thought. Moving along the walls he found something strange, it was perfectly flat. He got out his leveler and found his theory to be true. Taking one of the water bottles that they were provided for working he splashed it on the wall revealing something he really hoped wasn't real.

"Guys!!" came the call from Fred. Bob gave an exasperated sigh, he really was enjoying the peace and quite, well as peaceful and quite as a work area can be. "What is it now? Is your pick too heavy or are you tired?" he said with out looking around, banging his head on the wall. "Guys, you really need to see this." Both Joe and Bob turned around at almost the same time and had almost the same expression. Bob was the first to recover as he turned to Joe, the more reliable one, "Go to the more active tunnels and get the ANBU and if you can which you most likely will get the hokage. He will want to see this!"

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That's all I can do at the moment with the voting that will be needed. Remember do you want the warrior king to be naruto or an oc. Also the parings for characters can be varied.

I will not support yoai if that is what you want not that I'm against it (totally) its just that I cant write it. And if I did it would be Naruto Dom cuz I really see him as a dominant roll here.

So the poll for naruto parings will be

1: hinita

2: Tenten

3: Anko

4: Kurenai (thanx i knew i spelt her name wrong)

5: Temari

6: harem

I wont do yoai like I said before so don't even ask and the whole sakura naruto thing is really not my thing cuz I think she is a total be-och pardon my language. So please read review and be fairly gentle… please.


	3. Chap 2: Waking the Dragon

Ok on to chapter 2. I haven't gotten any votes on who you want the WK to be so ill just go with what I had planned. Ummm votes so far are:

Anko- 1

Hinita- 1

Harem- 1

Kurenai-1

So ill wait for that one for a bit, but the poll is going to be for at least 3 chapters so ill give people time to take a look at that.

Disclaimer: if I owned this Naruto would be a hell of a lot smarter so needless to say I don't own jack.

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(Recap)

"Go to the more active tunnels and get the ANBU and if you can, which you most likely will, get the Hokage. He will want to see this!"

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(Now)

The Sandaime Hokage, known as the 'Professor', had seen many things in his life. This was not one of them.

In front of him was the makings/foundations of a wall. As it was by the time he had reached the room Bob and Fred, along with some help from other workers, had already unearthed as much as they could as well as starting to pull blocks of stone out. By now, it had taken about an hour or so to get word and less to get back, they had opened up a fair bit of it making a hole that was 3ft wide and 5ft tall.

The aged Hokage walked up to Bob who seemed to be the leader of the operation. "Give me a status report." "It is unlike any thing I have ever seen." Said Bob shaking his head slightly before continuing, "The structure is sound and the laying of blocks is the best work I have ever seen. The blocks themselves are made of an unknown material and are exactly 2x2x2. The wall itself, well lets just say it goes on for a while, we took a look in side with a torch and we're a bit higher than the floor id say by about 4ft."

The Sandaime nodded in acceptance before stepping forward and examining one of the stones. Like the man said it was a perfect square, but an odd shape at the bottom right corner caught his eye. Leaning forward for a better look he found a dragon shaped marking. The dragon was swirled around itself in a counter clockwise shape starting at its tail and spiraling out. He pondered what it could mean. The marking was fairly familiar, but the place he had seen it escaped him at the moment.

He stepped back and nodded to his ANBU guards before looking around the room "we are going in, I want you to continue to unearth the wall, but if I don't come back in an half of an hour call the ANBU forces, they will know what to do." The men nodded in acceptance even though their faces showed signs of worry.

Again like Bob had said it was a four-foot drop to the bottom, but even with the torches they could hardly see any thing (you know sort of like in a scary movie). Holding up his hand he called the group to a halt. A few hand seals later and **Katon: Second sun technique **he called out. A small ball of fire flew into the darkness before expanding and hanging in mid-air lighting the entire cavern.

The first thing they noticed was the place was fricken huge! They had entered at the back and even with the second sun it was impossible to see the other side of the cavern. The second thing they all noticed was the soldiers. The ANBU immediately tensed up, but the Sandaime waved them off. "They are only statues." He told them, and indeed they were. Each wearing heavy armor and swords.

Taking a closer look around the cavern the Sandaime noticed the immaculate detail placed in every stone or statue. About every 10ft there was a large stone column and each column had a dragon wrapped from bottom to top that reached out towards the center at the top. Each dragon was different, some being snake like while others being lizard like in appearance.

What the statues wore was of great interest to the Sandaime. They all wore a red cape that flowed out behind them, holding the cape was the chest armor that was a shiny pitch black and had a small dragon insignia on the right shoulder. They all had a tower shield that had a small notch in the side and was also pitch black, but also had a silver gothic dragon on the front. The weapons varied from statue to statue, but the main weapons were long spears, and a long sword at the hip. They all, also, had a large quiver on their backs, but there were now bows in site. They also had a secondary weapon on their back whether it is another long sword or two short swords or some even had a few axes they all had a secondary weapon on their back.

The entourage moved closer to the statues and checked them out. Each was perfectly in line and standing at attention. They seemed to be standing in rank as far as the Sandaime could see. Even though each one had almost the same weapons and wore the same armor the helms were different. The helms were long and drawn out with two horns of each side of a horsehair mane (think Spartan helm), but depending on rank the mane was different. The ranking went like this from bottom to top; red, purple, blue, white, and yellow.

That's when the aged Hokage noticed something; there was no leader! The there were six yellow hairs, so where was the leader? Looking around slowly he saw what he was looking for, there on a thrown was what he was looking for. This statue was sitting down lazily looking down at his men with his helmed head propped up on his gauntleted hand. The mane on his helm was a deep black that shined in the light of the second sun.

The group moved closer even to look at the rest of the statues, looking at the details under closer scrutiny. They moving down the center of the parted ranks and heading toward the other end of the cavern. That is when the Sandaime heard some thing other than the soft padding of the ANBU around him. Stopping he quirked his head to the side. "Is there something wrong sir?" one of the closer ANBU asked. "Shhhh…" there it was again…he turned around completely

There standing in front of the thrown was the leader of the statue army. 'Shit, they aren't statues!' "Spartans...Intruders!" the man yelled out. Immediately the men around them formed a tight circle their shields facing the group and the spears in the small notches on the sides of them.

The ANBU formed a four point defensive circle ready to die for their beloved leader. The Sandaime stood stoticly in the center of the circle staring into the black voids in the helm where their eyes were supposed to be. It seemed to be a stand off, one side ready to defend their leader the other ready to take down the intruders.

Slowly, however, a path formed as the leader of the warriors moved through until he stood before them. "So…what are you doing in my domain, the domain of the Draconians?"

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Yay, this chapter is done and it's got a good cliffy at the end.

Kk here is the lowdown on some of the things that are going to happen.

First off, as you can see the Draconian leader is going to be OC so it shall forever be a mystery who he is until the next chapter…or maybe the chapter after that, what ever seems more convenient at the time.

The pairing poll is going well even tho I have some different opinions I shall leave it to the people to decide who is going to be paired up with naruto. If you want you can run a poll on who you want with other characters, but you wont see much on it maybe just a paragraph or two so it would be kinda pointless.

That's all I got for now so read, review and tell me if this looks like it needs some work or if its ok just the way it is, just so you know I wrote this as like midnight so im kinda jittery so if you complain…I BAME IT ON THE STRANGENESS OF…umm I forgot what I was going to say, soo on to bigger and better things. Ja ne


	4. Chap 3:Deals with a Dragon

I know it's a really long time in coming but the 3rd chapter to 'What Lies in Crimson Shadows' has arrived. I'm sorry it didn't come out when I predicted, but it seems that my manager deemed the voice over inadequate and that they needed to be redone and done by the dead line which really tightened my schedule. Well I hope that you enjoy the representation of my greatness even if it is fairly pathetic way of showing it.

I do not own any thing that carries the label of Naruto, well except for the fanfic, or any other anime/manga that I may add into the mix of this story.

Btw I wrote this while listening to old western movie songs and the themes to Naruto, Cow Boy Bebop (I would say CBB but that sounds like a radio station…) and FMA so if you have any complaints about this chapter, please send them to the guys who made the songs 'cuz they were my inspiration.

Now without further ado or any other type of halting or delay I present to you…

What Lies in Crimson Shadows

Chapter 4

The Reemerging Dragon

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"So…what are you doing in my domain, the domain of the Draconian's?"

It was a stand off between the two forces, although if truth be told one force looked rather pathetic compared to the other. In later years these next few moments would be called the Wits of the Monkey as Sarutobi tried to find a way out of the bind that he was in. Sarutobi's mind rushed for answers as he thought back to when he was under the tutelage of the Shodaime and Nidaeme.

They had taught him a fair bit of history and had even more knowledge in books, but he remembered when the Shodaime told him of the greatest army that had ever stepped on the face of the planet.

Xxxxxx Flashback (back in the age of dinosaurs…) xxxxxx

A young Sarutobi sat next to the Shodaime Hokage in the Hokage tower. They were seated comfortably on the couch with in the Hokage's personal lounge. Between them was a large decaying book that looked to be ready to turn to dust at any moment.

"What will I be learning to day Shodaime-sensei?" asked 13year old Sarutobi. The Hokages chuckled "Today your first lesson will be on the undefeated army of Sparta." At this the young Sarutobi became excited, seeing that war and strategy had always been his favorite subject. "It was said that long ago, before me or even my father's father was a great village called Sparta. It was situated in the center of all the elemental countries and flourished as a trading village, but that was not Sparta's main income." At this he flipped the book open to a page where a hand drawn picture of a Spartan warrior was depicted.

"They were the most feared, but also respected for they were warriors of honor and courage. They would fight for their allies and if they had non they fought for the highest bidder, but once they chose a side they would not betray them unless they country they had contract with broke it first." He paused seeing that Sarutobi wanted to ask a question. "Yes?"

"If they were so feared why not kill them off." He asked with slight confusion in his voice. "That is a very good question and I was about to get to that. You see not only were they feared because they had the best warriors it was because they had such a large army. It was said that the Spartans reveled in battle and feared not death and so they would fight with every ounce of strength they had. Not to say many did not try, but from what I was taught all who invaded Spartan territory never came back." At this point Sarutobi was practically bursting to ask another question. "Yes?" said the slightly bemused Hokage "If they were so powerful then why are they not one of the great villages to day." The Hokage chuckled again "Another, if I may say so myself an even better, question. Truly many do not know for sure what the reason for their decline, but the most common reason was this. The king who had started Sparta was told to step down and name a new king, now you must understand that this was a good 150 years since the founding of Sparta. It always made me wonder what his name was for I was never written and the only thing they called him the King of the Spartans" The Shodaime Hokage turned the page again showing another picture of a man standing on the top of a bloodied hill, the wind whipping out his crimson cape behind him and heavy armor glinting in the waning sun.

"After his stepping down and giving the thrown to a new ruler he left, apparently taking a good chunk of their forces with him. Although this was not their down fall it was the beginning of it. You see, when he left he took the best soldiers they had known at that time as the myrmidons. The all of them were apparently trained all by him and were loyal to no one but him. When he left they followed and in doing so changed their name to the Draconians."

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As the aged Hokage reminisced on his past the Draconian king studied the trespassers. The four surrounding the one in the center were obviously the elder's lackeys and gave off a definite scent of fear, but it was not a fear for their own lives it was the fear for their leader, they were truly loyal. The man I the center was obviously aged, but held a aura around him that radiated calmness. He looked strait into the aged leader's eyes and found something that not all men had, and something that he respected greatly. Fearlessness. The man did not fear his death and would stand proudly till the end, just as he would expect from any of his men.

He waited patiently for his answer as he saw the leader calculating the best way to answer. "I'm sorry that we intruded, but we did not know this was your domain." At this he bowed slightly, apologizing but not letting down his guard. "We recently found this enclosure and came to explore it unknowingly entering upon your domain." The king nodded his head and smirked, glad that the man couldn't see his face. 'He knows how to play, let's see how far he can go…' he thought. "I understand, but incompetence is not my fault and you are still I'm my domain. Trespassing is usually dealt with death…" he let it hang wondering if he would take the bait, and sure enough his eyes narrowed and the four surrounding him tensed.

"I am sorry to hear that, but let it be known that I have told my men that if I did not come back they were to mobilize on this point." Came the aged leader's reply. He chuckled "ahhh, you have it all wrong." He said like chastising a child, shaking his hand back and forth with his pointer finger up. "You are in an enclosed area with only one known entrance, that I would have to guess is fairly small seeing as you just found this. That would let me sit and kill your men as they came in with small numbers around 3 to 5 a time to even less." By now he could see that the leader understood it was all a game, but he decided to continue. "And on top of that you don't know if there is a second way out or how our food and water stocks are so hypothetically we could stay in here for weeks."

It was apparent at this point that the four surrounding men tightened their stances even further at the 'threat' that he had placed. Truthfully all of his men were laughing knowing the mood of their king and silently taking his mirth, each very thankful for the shadowing helmets that blocked the other men from seeing their smiling faces.

"Enough. You have made your point and we are at your mercy." Sarutobi bowed, but the warrior king waved it off. "Follow me. Men! At ease." Then he turned walking towards the left hand wall. They followed; moving threw the relaxed warriors, finding a small room that they had missed on their previous inspection. Moving into the room they found it fairly empty, there only being a few cushions for sitting and a low table.

"During this time that I know no one I am in need of an alliance, and you are the lucky man to have found us so I offer it to you." It was very blunt and made more than one statement than said out loud. "I am willing to make an alliance but what do we have that will make sure you will not betray us." The king chuckled again; this man did know his stuff. "I saw that you recognized us when we announced ourselves and you obviously also know our reputation by the way you quickly schooled you features. I could continue, but I think you understand." Sarutobi deflated a bit, he had been hoping for something, but the man was truly cunning and very observant. "True…"

The conversation went on like this for several minuets, and it would have continued but the king held up his hand and silence radiated threw out the room. "I seem to remember that you have men waiting for your return and I have no papers to write out this agreement, so I propose we move it back to your village and we will continue it there." The aged Hokage nodded and stood up to leave, but paused at the door. "I don't seem to have gotten your name." "Ah how rude of me. You may call me Takeo…"

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When Sarutobi returned to the hole in the wall the workers visibly relaxed. Apparently it was reaching the time where they were to call the ANBU and they were worried for him. A few words were spoken in which he told them to take a break for the rest of the day and good job at excavating. However, before he left to make plans for their new guests he looked back and was surprised to see nothing. He hadn't realized that the cavern was so large. He pushed that thought away and started for the Hokage tower before pausing. 'This means more paper work…' he groaned before continuing. It was going to be a very long day…

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I'm really sorry for the delay, but as I said before I had to make a deadline and by the time I got back home I was tired. Seriously even thought I enjoy the work it sometimes gets really annoying, it's not the work it's more like the directors. Every single thing has to be absolutely perfect. Like I said, very annoying. Any ways I hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter and please review I don't really care if you're making fun of my writing (well actually…) but I would like to hear some (or at least read some…) sort of criticism 'cause it really helps me refine my writing so reviews are welcome.

Btw ill be taking up **Elemental Pirate**from shiningami-mercso once I get all of the files and stuff ill repost it and put my own spin on it. Hopefully I can keep tabs with him for some ideas and where to continue the story if I get stuck or maybe telling me to get my act in gear and redo some chaps.

Any ways I hope you liked the update and like before please review. Ja ne


	5. a new AN, aint life just peachy?

Im sorry for not updating but it seems that my computer is having problems so im going to get a new computer. The computer that I am currently using is retarded and wont even turn on so I am screwed in every way. Im going to have to rewrite my fics so it will be some time before I update again but don't worry when I do update they will be really really long. I hope that will be some compenstation for the long wait that will most likely come and I will try to write and upload some stuff from the computer that I am currently using but it is unlikely so you will just have to wait a couple of months seeing as the computer I am aiming for is around 2 to 3 thousand dollars. During that time ill be writing in a note book and keeping tabs.

It was really screwed up and im still really pissed that it happened. The day before, which was a week or so ago, it happened I was having some troubles then the next morning when I turned on my computer it just came up with a blank screen so ya right now im using a school computer and I only get to use it for an hour or two a week so ill see what I can do, but im not promising any thing


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